Marium Rauf
As the world moves into 2022, a woman still has numerous hurdles to cross to succeed in our country. Unfortunately gender-based violence has increased quite a lot in 2021, which has been blamed on a number of factors, including illiteracy, lack of awareness, poverty, and rampant misogyny in the country. However, the recent surge in femicide trend also points a finger at the complicity of the state for its inability, or even a lack of desire, to protect women. We cannot rate 2021 as a safest year for women in our country .We cannot shut our eyes to the truth by calling out all femicide cases a western propaganda and “candle auntie’s “drama. From shameful case of a man severely thrashed his mother in the city of Rawalpindi to horrific case of 27-year-old Noor Muqaddam, who was brutally tortured and beheaded in the nation’s capital on July 21 ,all these incidents marked a harrowing impact in 2021 for women . All these women who were reported mostly were from elite backgrounds or stable economic status. In Pakistan the majority of women who are victims of gender based violence are among the country’s poor and middle classes, and their deaths are often not reported or, when they are, often ignored.
In September 2019, a woman was gang-raped in front of her children on a highway in Pakistan. The woman was waiting for help after her car ran out of fuel when two men emerged and raped her at gunpoint. The accused were handed death sentences and life imprisonment, marking the first time convicts in a gang rape case have been condemned to death in Pakistan. However, even as Pakistani women experienced a collective trauma as details of the incident were made public, the Senior Superintendent of the Police (SSP) working on the case said on national television that the victim should not have taken the route she took –holding the victim responsible.
According to psychologists, Victim blaming and shaming actually can not only cause trauma to be retriggered or made more acute, they also prevent other victims from speaking up .When people occupying high ranks and people in power put the blame on victims, they give more room to abusers in our system to feel confident and comfortable to get away with further violations, and perhaps even justify their actions
Apart from shaming and blaming new surge of women hatred also latched on to our society in 2021,in which bashing and associating vocal women about their rights to” vulgar” and “western puppets” surfaced .Malala ,a youngest Nobel prize laureate pretty fits in this criteria , who received an immense criticism for being a women ,I wonder if she were a man ,had she received the same criticism as she received now. One can disagree with oneself but cannot disrespect anyone .It is a high time to educate our society to halt this violent approach about women. Pakistan has a patriarchal society, to secure women in this society effective state ruling, education and awareness is required.
Constitution of Pakistan gives equal rights to all and denies any sort of discrimination by any definition. But the survivors of the gender based violence in Pakistan are in anguish by not getting equity. Justice delayed is no justice at all and the same is the circumstance of Pakistani ladies. Ladies requesting equity from the courts are at that point piercing for ladies. The Structure is quiet on numerous issues like regenerative rights. Usage of honor murdering laws gutted over the long time. .In a nutshell ,the struggle for equal rights for women still has a long way to go, but hope to succeed In this struggle must not be diminished . Pakistan has seen enough hash tags and cries for justice; it now must focus time and resources toward taking preventative steps. We have entered into 2022 ,let’s hope for a better year for women on earth.
The writer is accessible at [email protected]